Max started to cry, struggling to turn his head around to find Grace.
“Let me just calm him down. He’s confused.” Panic trembled in her words despite her best efforts to sound calm.
“Why would he panic?” Faith snapped. “He’s with me.”
Because he doesn’t know you. Because you look like me but you’re a stranger.
And maybe Max could sense that the woman holding him was a warped version of the one who took care of him. It wasn’t something he could possibly understand at his age, which would only make it more terrifying. Grace’s breathing sped up, but she resisted the urge to hyperventilate.
Faith ignored this entirely. Whatever desire had led her back here didn’t stem from maternal instinct. She swept across the room and presented Max to Jason like a trophy.
Bile rose in Grace’s throat and she swallowed it back. Max was one of Jason’s fantasies. If he couldn’t have his family, he would take another.
“Isn’t he perfect?” Faith asked and for a second she sounded like his mom.
“Not perfect,” Jason said with a laugh. “He can’t hear, right? I thought you were lying to me about him not being mine, but that skin doesn’t lie.”
“Does it matter, baby?” Her motherliness shifted immediately into simpering.
“Nah. I guess not.” He picked Max up and held him in the air. The baby let out a piercing cry and Jason jiggled him slightly. “You read lips yet, little man? You need to chill.”
Jason started laughing again, glancing toward Grace like she was in on the joke.
“You got a bag for him?” Faith asked, making her way back to the bedroom.
“Do you have a car seat or baby formula or diapers?” Grace spewed out the list of essentials, praying something would stick and make them realize they were unprepared to take him. She just needed a little more time.
“Just give me yours.” Faith giggled as though this was the obvious solution. Grace’s eyes landed on the baseball bat she kept near the door for when Faith’s old friends stopped by. “You won’t need it anymore. Just think, sissy, you’re going to be a free woman.”
She could take Faith out, but Jason was bigger and he was holding Max.
“Wait!” Jason interrupted. “We’re taking him right now? Baby, I have some business in the city before we head home. We can pick him up then. Besides I’m not letting my little man wear shit like this. Where’d you get this, the flea market?”
Relief flooded through her. Grace might have flushed if someone else had noticed how worn Max’s romper was, but right now she was the one hanging by a thread. This was what she needed: the time to find help.
“I guess you’re right.” Faith shrugged, pursing her lips. “You can pack up that other stuff, but we don’t need the clothes obviously. I’ll come by tomorrow and help. Jason has meetings.”
Grace nodded, afraid to say anything that might change their mind.
“Put him back to bed,” Jason ordered, handing the baby off like she was his nanny. “And consider my offer.”
She forced herself to bob her head again. She had to keep them happy. If they believed they had won, they would leave and come back tomorrow. Grace held Max closely, his cries softening into whimpers.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Faith kissed Max’s forehead, leaving behind two strips of pink lipstick. She didn’t bother to wipe it off.
Grace followed them to the door. She waited for their footsteps to fade down the hall before she bolted and latched it. They were gone. For now.
Max’s hand reached up and touched her cheek, drawing her attention down to his face. Even though he had quieted, his eyes were rimmed with red and a few large crocodile tears puddled in the corner, waiting to fall.
“It’s okay,” she soothed. He couldn’t hear and he couldn’t read lips, but somehow he knew, felt the vibration of her voice. Max settled his head against her shoulder, nestled right above her heart and fell asleep. He felt safe, but she knew he wasn’t.